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| Welcome to the Jianghu. |
TL;DR: Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades can feel a little overwhelming; there's a huge amount packed in this with a simple system that encourages a narrative style and can be surprisingly dangerous. The example setting feels living with a spider-web of relationships. It's definitely one to start small in and let things snowball. The guidance is solid and the authors' love for the genre is clear. This impressed me and I'd like to get it to the table, but before I do I think I need to read it a few more times and unpack it in my head. Great stuff. Recommended.
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| Example spreads shared by Osprey on their website. |
The game is presented as a full-colour hardback book, in the same format as previous Osprey releases. It is 272-pages long and has some very stylised and striking art and layout. The game is set in the Jianghu, the martial world, a space occupied by martial artists, outlaws, beggars and others beyond the reach of the law. It is similar to the space occupied by a criminal underworld, often linked to Inns, Teahouses and Brothels frequented by those who belong to the Jianghu.
The game uses a d10 dice pool for its resolution method. You will make a roll against a target number (typically 6) or as an opposed roll against an opponent. The game is skill-based and skills will range from 0 to 3 in level. If you have skill 0, you effectively roll with disadvantage, using two dice and taking the worst result. If you roll more than one dice, you take the highest individual result. 10 is always a spectacular success. Usually, the system has a cap of 7 dice, but some abilities could take you you to a maximum of 10 dice in extreme circumstances. You can get bonuses/penalties of up to +/-3d10. Defences can be degraded or enhanced by moving their target number.
Characters have Signature Abilities; styles or talents that reflect martial art techniques, very much like feats in other systems. They give each character key moves that they can use that enhance the three basic martial arts skills. Characters also have Counters; moves that they can use to protect against attacks. Signature abilities and Counters, along with other physical statistics grow as characters level up. You can break the standard numbers of Signature Abilities by taking a Fire Deviation Eccentricity. This is something that will act as a detriment to you, rolled on a random table, which unlocks another signature ability.
You can initially take 3 wounds, after which you start to take damage on the death and maiming table, which can get nasty really quickly. Weapons will roll a number of dice against your hardiness, often boosted by your speed or muscle skills. If you succeed, you do one wound. 10 gives two wounds and if you roll more than one 10, each adds another wound. Rare attacks may result in open damage, which means that you take damage from every dice rolled, which is likely to take the target out of play very quickly. Higher-level characters have levels of resist; this means that you can resist wounds from each attack from lower-level characters.
Characters also have a killing aura; a level based on your level. Other martial artists can sense this unless you can cloak it somehow. You also get a killing aura darkness score which reflects the number of enemies you have killed. Both of these give alert opponents an idea of how dangerous a foe that they are facing.
Skills are in six groups; Martial Arts, Specialist Skills (such as trade or medicine), Mental skills (such as Detect, Command or Persuade), physical skills (such as athletics, muscle or riding), knowledge skills (religion, people and places, the Jianghu, institutions) and - finally - there are unorthodox skills (such as disguise, drinking, gambling and magic arts). You also have defences; these convert to a target number so have a rating of 0-3 added to 5 to give the TN.
Martial Arts are split into three skills; External, Internal and Lightness. External Arts use physical force and explosive movement. Internal Arts use internal energy, driven from meditation and martial arts practice; it could be energy blasts from your inner force or channelling that energy into swordplay or unarmed moves. Lightness Arts involve the way to control your weight and speed; this is the skill set that allows walls to be climbed, huge jumps and chases over rooftops. The defences against these include Evade (used to avoid something hitting you), Hardiness (your toughness) and Wits (your strength of mind). They have a static number.
Combat follows a simple process; it starts with a talking and analysis phase; you can try and talk or bluff your way out of combat. You can also try and Psych Out the opposition to put them at a disadvantage. Alternatively, you could try and get a bonus by using your detect, empathy or reasoning to assess foes and gain an advantage to hit and to cause damage. Finally, you could try and understand a new opponent's Signature Abilities or Counters.
Once the roleplaying is over, if combat is still likely, each character and NPC gets their turn order for that turn only by rolling their speed. The round moves highest to lowest. Attacks are usually done by using Martial Arts Skills, Signature Abilities and/or Weapons. You can talk in combat at any time and can move your full movement. You can take a combat action or use a non-combat skill.
Signature Abilities work in unique ways. Cleaver of the Solitary Sun allows you to add an extra d10 to your attack roll and do an extra wound on a successful roll, except when you have the high ground. If you then take Clever of the Four Suns, this increases the bonus to +2d10 and +2 damage. Chain Whip Style removes the penalty for using a chain whip, and on a total success (10) attack, your opponent is wrapped in the chain, taking a 1d10 damage roll every turn. This can be ramped up further. Other Signature Abilities allow you to disappear, walk on the ceiling and more. These make your characters unique. There are some Hidden Abilities that you need to find a teacher to learn and gain the GM's permission. Some of these are devastating in the right circumstances (for example, Liquid Sword Master does 3 wounds extra if your opponent fails on a Counter).
If someone attacks you, you can declare you are countering before they roll and after they have declared how they are attacking you, taking the attack roll into an opposed roll. These work in different ways; the Hovering Ghost Defense uses Lightness Martial Arts to reduce the potential damage scored against you; an attack roll is made against Evade as usual, and you roll against the attack roll to resist its effects.
There are also rules for alcohol; this reflects stories where martial heroes may function better when drunk. You can also develop grudges against those who have crossed you, which can give a bonus to your skill rolls when acting on them. There are optional language rules which account for differing regions.
Wealth and social resources are also covered before the rules move into a chapter on weapons, objects and equipment. This includes the top ten weapons available and powerful artefacts. There's a list of alcohol, elixirs, poisons and pills.
There is a chapter on Eccentricities; quirks and flaws that can result from combat or during character generation. Any penalties from these are transient; if gained during play they are removed after a year reflecting the character becoming used to them and adjusting. Fire Deviation Eccentricities come from multiple failed meditation rolls or as a mechanics to gain an additional Signature Ability. Some of these eccentricities are triggered, others just cause a permanent effect (like you lose all your hair). The chapter also covers Acupoints, which can be blocked for beneficial and detrimental effects.
The first 125 pages are intense, with pages of abilities and lots and lots of lists. I found it hard work the first time through, but it's good material; sometimes the order of presentation makes it more challenging but it's the old chicken-and-egg challenge as there's often no perfect solution to how you approach this.
Chapter Nine opens up with guidance on gamemastering the Jianghu; guidance on what to read and watch and how to take a crash course in wuxia. As a neophyte this was useful. There's also guidance on rulings, and how to understand the balance of the game. There's plenty of good stuff in this; it's clear the authors have considered how to run their game and want to share this so you have the best experience possible. There are encounter tables and a sample Inn map. Types of adventures and campaigns are discussed, along with options for secret history, fated relationships and other forms of destiny.
The next chapter covers how to make your Jianghu feel fun and work. It starts by covering Face, and then religion. The Imperial Bureaucracy, Drinking Culture, differing time periods and locations are covered, including a map of China showing key regions and locations. This is a composite across time periods; the authors are quick to point out that this is not a set period. It then discusses how to build your own unique Jianghu.
Chapter Eleven presents the author's take on their Jianghu. This is a extensively developed setting with key organisations (including members, grudges and allies and typical stats for non-player characters from the organisation). There are 57 pages of well-developed NPCs who are all interlinked as allies or with grudges. The chapter rounds out with generic people to encounter - Bandits, Beggars, Servants and more - and some example creatures and notes to develop more. This is a wonderful sandbox, but if I was to use it then I'd want to build some relationship maps!
The next chapter has a simple introductory adventure called 'The Obsidian Bat'. It's well structured (and dangerous if approached the wrong way). It definitely gives a flavour of how the authors want to play the game. It's followed by a one-page synopsis of a further 14-page adventure free to download from the Osprey website, a clean character sheet and a three-page detailed index.
Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades can feel a little overwhelming; there's a huge amount packed in this with a simple system that encourages a narrative style and can be surprisingly dangerous. The example setting feels living with a spider-web of relationships. It's definitely one to start small in and let things snowball. The guidance is solid and the authors' love for the genre is clear. This impressed me and I'd like to get it to the table, but before I do I think I need to read it a few more times and unpack it in my head. Great stuff. Recommended.
15 December 2020
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